Wetter winter than usual expected in Great Lakes

The reason: winter conditions this season in the United States are expected to be affected by a La Nina system.

Related story: When forecast calls for snow squalls, you'll get more notice.

The prediction for the coming winter in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley includes “wetter-than-average conditions,” according to a long-range forecast issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.

Winter conditions overall in the United States are expected to be affected by the La Nina, which has a 55 to 65 percent chance of developing before winter sets in, NOAA explained.

La Nina and El Nino are terms used to describe swings in water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, which ripple into weather conditions noticed on land during the years they form.

La Nina years usually result in cooler and wetter winters in the northern U.S.

Temperatures are expected to be about normal.

But since temperature and precipitation changes may or may not sync, the long-range seasonal outlook isn’t a predictor of snowfall amounts for a given year, NOAA said.